Forum:City at war
'The city may burn, but the world will turn, while war never changes. ' It is 2280 and Topeka is straining to breathe it's last gasp of peace before war consumes it. The mutants of The Keystone threaten to overwhelm the local factions; the speed of The Hussars, the guns of The Dutchmen, the zeal of the Iron Legs all turned aside by the strength of the mutants. The mutants themselves however are not without weakness, a century has ground down their numbers and armories, stopping them from taking the city all out. It has also forged them into a deadly war machine, A true force to be reckoned with. It is in this early stage of the war when our Heroes enter it. The city maybe be destroyed, but War...war never changes. (to tell our posts apart, put [ [ charactername ] ] without spaces before your post please) Kotar 'I don't recall this place being this much of a shithole. Kotar thought to himself as he looked out one of the windows of his trailer, observing the new bullet holes and scorch marks on the make-shift barricades and walls surronding the plaza they were passing through. "Whoa!!" Al said in surprise, as the trailer in front of him pulled to a sudden stop. Kotar held on to the window seal until it stopped and then hopped out with his rifle in his hands. Looking towards the front of the caravan, Kotar saw Stubbs and Tom in discussion with a man wearing some sort of black robe. Nodding to Jack to follow him over, Kotar made his way to them. "...so we can use any help you can provide." the stranger finished as Kotar walked up. "hey guys, what's up?" the tribal asked his friends as he looked from them to the stranger. "I was asking for your help." the stranger told him as Stubbs looked around at the battle scene. "We aren't mercs man, and I for one don't wanna fight some Raider-mobster war just because you asked." Kotar told him as he reslung his rifle, and took a hit of turbo. The response was to slow for Kotar to make it out so he wandered off back to trailer, leaving Tom with the man until Stubbs returned to them. When they reached it and both men were inside, he turned to jack, who also had taken a hit to communicate with the tribal. "We gotta get in on this." he told his bodyguard. "Then why did you tell that guy, you'd didn't want to?" Jack asked him. "You didn't reconize him? That was one of those saints or whatever, the mediators of the place. they'd probably take us out at the end 'cause we played it our way." the tribal told him as he pulled a small footlocker from under his bed. "What's in there?" Jack asked as Kotar opened and dug through it. "Remember how Bill always leaves before we hit town? I wrote down where he said he was going...here it is!" he pulled it out with a flourish. "Hey Al, Ember!" Kotar called for his other two guards, followed by the men appearing a moment later. "when it gets dark, or a hour or two after that guy leaves, go here" He waved the map for emphasis. "And see if you can find bill, I got a feeling he'd enjoy this." Bill "Hey honey, what can I get you?" the barmaid said. "He isn’t your honey" said Elena, setting her hand in Bill’s lap, "That is mine." "Alright Elena, calm down, yes, I would like a whiskey and…" started Bill, stuck between the two women when the doors to the saloon burst open "Bill McLaine, I’m calling you ou…oof" started the large man who came in, until the bolt of plasma from Elena’s gun blew his face away. "I guess not." Said Bill, turning to face the door as it opened again. Into the door stepped two faces Bill recognized from his other world. "Hey Al, Ember, what can I do for you two this fine morning?" "Kotar sent us to find you, said to tell you that there is big trouble in Topeka, and that they want to hire the wavelength for help, said you might be interested." As Ember spoke, Bill’s whiskey arrived, and he downed the last of the bottle. As he lowered the glass, a wicked grin slowly spread across his face, and, putting his hat back on, turned to Elena. "Shall we?" he asked, donning his hat "Eh, why not." She said, getting up, squeaking slightly when Bill spanked her ass. "You two want a ride back?" Bill asked, turning back to the two. "Nah, we can make our own way back, just let me point out where the Wavelength is for you…" Kotar It had been several hours since his guards left and Kotar was sure they were out of the city. Nodding to Jack, he got up and left his trailer and made his way to the campfire where the others were gathered. Finding Stubbs in mid-ramble, he approach Sam from behind and leaned into whisper to him. "If anyone asks, me and the boys are sick, and are gonna be all night." Sam jumped in surprise but whispered back that he understood. Sneaking back into the darkness of the camp, Kotar and jack crept out to the north, navigating by starlight only. They traveled for about a hour through the ruins until they came upon light in the distance. Looking at each other they crept closer until they came upon a makeship town; 10ft barricades with guards patrolling them, a crude gate and several buildings, all with the letters '''W.B. '''stenciled on them somewhere. As they were looking at the town, one of the guards started to fire at them, kicking up chuncks of cement and dirt around them. Running to opposite sides of the street, Jack began to return fire while Kotar made his way forward. When he was about fifty feet away, he stopped crawling and knelt behind a rubble pile and started firing himself, hitting one of the men on the wall in the shoulder, knocking him off. While he was firing Jack was advancing like they always trained. He got to thirty feet from the barricade and fired single shots, hitting two of the guards, killing one outright. Kotar advanced while Jack forced them into cover, getting to twenty feet of the wall, and readied his harpoon. As a guard stood up, Kotar threw the harpoon, hitting the man in the throat, almost severing his head. The remaining man fell back to the center of the town, dragging the wounded guard with him, who was firing both SMG's. Kotar and Jack moved from cover to cover narrowly avoiding the incoming bullets. Jack, now out of ammo, drew his .44 and looked at Kotar to see who would go in first. Neither one wanted to go in, but Jack, losing a game of rock, paper, scissors, leaped around the edge of the barricade and fired all six shots into the two men. Having a moment of respite, the two collected their breathe, and reloaded their weapons. Collecting his harpoon and tossing Jack his last spare magazine, Kotar started looking through the buildings. The left most seemed to be a kitchen, with stoves and chairs. the center shack was a storeroom, from which the pair took several sticks of dynamite and a crate of dried meat. The last door they opened was a bunk house that contained about twenty scared looking people all hudled together. Closing the door and looking to Jack, who gave him the look he wanted. Taking a matchbook out of his backpack, he lit one, which he lit a dynamite stick with and tossed it in the shack. Running back to the opening in the barricades, kotar imagined he briefly heard the screams of those inside right before the blast, but shook it off. Repeating this to the rest of the camp, he and Jack took their crate of meat, and left the newly made ruins behind. (back to wavelength.) Bill As the sun began to set, Bill and Elena were rolling down the I-75 in his refurbished M-275 Mech Mule Mk III, heading east toward where the caravan had made camp, when he heard several explosions to the south. Turning that way, he and Elena soon ran into a fire fight between men dressed in black suits and the all iconic Black Hat, and a small band of super mutants. The Black hats out-numbered the super mutants 3-1, but were obviously loosing the battle. The main reason for this, Bill decided, was because of the mutant's had a ghoul sniper firing on the Hats from above, and had forced most of the Hats to ground. And since they were hiding from the sniper, the super's were able to advance on them. "Okay babe, i want you to try and sneak around behind the mutants, while I take out that sniper," Bill whispered to Elena as they dismounted the Mule and took cover. "HEY Devils! You look like you all could use a hand!" "Fuck yes we could use a hand, that snipers got us pinned!" said a voice among the rubble that was the Hats Alamo. Bill raised his rifle and took aim, and fired twice. Both rounds hit the sniper, one straight through his skull and out the back, and the other through his leg, so that he toppled down from his perch on the bill board. As soon as he did that, the super's took notice of him, and he had to dive behind cover as a wall of lead and death filled where he had been. Looking around for Elena, Bill noticed she was in position, and giving her a quick signal, watched as she stood, threw something, and dived for cover. Bill had barked a laugh and covered his ears as an explosion rocked the street with enough force to knock over the billboard the sniper had been in. When he looked at where the mutants HAD been, he saw that only one still stood, the rest having been vaporized instantly in the blast from Elena and Bills Grenade of Awesomeness mk 2. As the ringing subsided, Bill slowly stood up, and winced at the sharp pain in his thigh. When he looked down, he blinked in suprise: one of the super mutants arms, turned into shrapnel by the explosion, was stuck in his leg like a spear. "Uhh, babe, I THINK I might need a doc" started Bill as the ground suddenly sped toward him. (Day 2) "Helloooooo, Topeka! this is the Bison bringing you the news and the moos! Runners have reported to us that Keystone soldiers are on the move! both the Black hats and the saints report that they are under attack from the mutants! in addition they have taken control the highway 4 river crossing, be careful if your trying to flee east. In the north the huns are having a party in the tall grass so bewhere, and in a surprising change, the hussars are leaving town! finally a bit of good news. Kotar Being awoken by the broadcast, Kotar rose from his matress and stood in his trailer. making his way outside, he saw Jack standing with Al and Ember, all of whom looked as they had woken much earlier. Going to the group he said "Hey guys." They looked over at him and returned the greeting, which he followed with "find Bill?" Ember, who was lighting a cagarette, took a drag of smoke and replied "yeah, him and his girly, said they'd be here." satisfied, Kotar walked over to where Sam was moving the next batch of records to the broadcast trailer. "Hey Sam" the young man looked over at him but continued his work. "appreciate the favor." Kotar told him and walked back to his trailer. "your welcome." Sam called after him. Stepping inside once more, Kotar went to his ammo chest and removed several magazines of both hollow points and FMJs for his rifle, and then thniking about for a moment, grabbed a bag from nearby and dumped several more magazines in there, along with several grenades. Returning out side, he found his guards waiting for him. Walking past them and having them fall behind him, he set out east towards the "black hats" The broadcast had clearly downplayed the scale of the attack, with about 15 super mutants and four ghouls attack the southern entryway into the black hats territory. Armed with everythings frm plasma casters to miniguns to rocket launchers, it was a wonder that the mobsters were holding out at all. Already their losses were piling up; bodies and pieces of gore were scattered around their defenses, defenders moving them aside trying to find a place to fire. "Full metal jackets." told his group as he switched ammo. They were 200 yards west of the battle, with the mutants unaware. "Al, Ember go to the west gate and help these guys out." the pair ran off as soon as he finished speaking. "Where we going?" Jack asked, a little hesitant in the face of the mutant's power. "around the back." Kotar answered with a smile. They continued south for a dozen blacks before heading east so they were a fair distance behind the mutant force. Now heading towards them they got to the building behind the mutants, the battle almost deafing. Kicking the door of the building in, Kotar and Jack advanced up the staris, climbing higher and higher until they heard the sound of las-fire from a dorr on the third foor. Easing the door open, they saw a ghoul sniper taking out hats, and tallying his kills on the window seal with chalk. Looking at Jack and doing a choping motion, The other man took out his machete and crept behind the ghoul before bringing it down on it's rotten head. With the noise slightly reduced, Kotar could make out the sound of assault rifle fire from Al and Ember on the walls, and went to the window to see them cutting down the mutant with the Rocket launcher. Kotar and Jack joined in a moment later, focusing in the ghouls, who leather armor offered little resistance to the incoming bullets. One of the mutants, noticing the attack from behind, directed one his 'brothers' with the minigun at them. Running out of the room and diving in the hall, the two were covered by chunks of wood and plaster from the barrage. The fire stopped after seemingly hundreds of rounds, to the two took the time to run up the stairs to the roof. From here they had a commanding view of both the mutant formations and the black hat's settlement. Dumping the ammo out of the bag, Kotar took a grenade out, armed it, and dropped it back in the bag, followed by him dropping the bag on the mutant with the minigun. The resulting explosion took out not only him, but two other mutants with plasma casters. The fire on them substantially weakened, The defending mobsters rallied and refocused their fire on the mutant trying to rally the confused mutants, killing him and causing the attackers to fire wildly at their defenses. Kotar and jack began firing at the remaining mutants, cutting down three of them, before stopping to reload. When they looked back over the ledge, the last two were in the process of being blown to pieces by the mobsters. Walking down and out the building, the two were greeted by the cheers of the defenders, whos lives they undoubtably saved. Bill "Bill? Bill honey, we're here," said Elena as she helped Bill out of the mule, half carrying him into the old cathedral in the middle of what Bill could only think of as a fortress. Bill had never made it into the Saints heavily fortified turf, the Saints had seen through his schemes and silver tongue. Now that he was inside, Bill truely understood WHY everyone respected the Saints. the cathedral, Matts, was surrounded by three rings of walls made from cars and rubble, old buildings turned into towers and traps, and here in the courtyard infront of the Cathedral, Bill saw that the Saints were gearing up for one hell of a fight. Robed monks were running everywhere, some carrying assault rifles, others crates of explosives and grenades, and others smg's. "Whats going on?" he asked their escort, one Father Maxwell. "Keystone warriors are moving in to surround us, so the arch-bishop is rallying us. In all my years here, i have never seen the armory fully opened, Come, lets get you to Daniel." hurrying the pair along, Maxwell led them to a small building with a large red cross on the door, knocking, Maxwell led them into the room. "Daniel, i got a man in need of your skills." The only person in the room was dressed all in black, down to his lab coat. Turning to face the newcomers to his office, Elena gasped at the sight of the mans face. From below his nose all the way to his ears, the mans skin had been cut away, all that remained was the muscles and tendons, all of which moved as the mans face went from shock to shagrin, Turning away again, the man picked up an iron mask off of his desk and put it on. "Sorry bout that miss, i wasn't expecting visitors just yet, and sir, it does appear that you have an arm stuck through you," said the man in black. "No shit doc," said Bill, recovering fast from the sight of the mans face, "Now can we get down to fixing it?" "But of course, please, just take a seat. Now, do you have any allergies I should be aware of? No, well, then, good night" as he had spoke Daniel had drawn a needle out and stabbed it into Bills arm. When Bill came too again, his first sight was a nightmare. Daniel, without his mask, was looking closely at Bill, curiosity clear on his face. Bill grabbed the mans throat and growled "Get the hell out of my face." "Of course, oh, and i am Proud to announce that i have fixed you." said Daniel, who easily wrested away from Bill. "Now, the Arch-Bishop would like a word with you and your female companion." "Thats Smiley," said Bill, though he didn't finish his statement, due to the very sharp razor against his throat. "Please refrain from calling me that sir, It is rude, and I don't find it funny." Daniel turned away and returned to his desk and his work. Bill and Elena left the medical tent and headed for the Cathedral. At the front door, Bill and Elena where forced to relinquish their weapons, and then escorted to the Arch-Bishops office. Sitting behind his fancy desk, in his whiteish robes and tall hat, the Arch-Bishop looked rather comical to Bill, though he refrained from laughing at one of the most powerful men in Topeka. "So, you are Bill McLaine, the scurge of the Hwice and the Caravaggio's, gambler and scavenger Extraordinaire, did i forget anything?" asked the Bishop. "Well, not to boast, but I AM one hell of a chef." Bill said, "how the fuck do I get out of here, and which way to the Wavelength caravan? "Oh, you want to go to your friends, thats nice, but you see, i can't allow that, yet." Said the Bishop, sitting forward, "We have information you want Bill, and you have something we need." "Oh, what do I have that you need?" said Bill cocking his head as he spoke. "Well, you have a certain explosive we are currently lacking, and though we could just take it, i would rather you gave it to us." "What Info you got?" said Bill. "The best kind, the kind your friends back East sent you to find" After the trade was agreed upon, Bill and Elena loaded up the Mule and prepared to leave. Before they left, Bill went back to the Medical tent "Hey, Daniel, wanna ride with me and mine? We could always use a saw-bones." "Why?" asked Daniel, turning to face Bill. "So you can see the world, i saw that look in your eye, you wanna know more then this, more then Topeka, you wanna be free to do what you want, drink as you wish, and to be respected, that I saw in your eyes, and you want it sooner rather then later." "Tell you what, you come back with some firepower, break this siege, and I'll join you." said Daniel. "Deal" said Bill shaking hands with Daniel and then leaving. (To wavelength, nothing else happens in route) Kotar It was a hour after the siege of the Black Hats, and Kotar and the boys were having breakfast and relaxing around his trailer. This was one of their many rituals, the four never saying anything until everyone had finished their meal and following this with a cold drink, usually alcohol. Finishing his fourth rum-and-Nuka and working on a nice buzz, Kotar noticed Sam walking towards him. Glancing at how high the sun was, Kotar sighed as it was his turn to DJ and his intern confirmed it. Walking into the broadcast trailer and taking the chair, he flipped the switch that started the broadcast. "Hey Topeka this is The Wild Waster known as the Walrus!" He smiled, somehow it always made him feel happy. "I'm talking to you from wavelength headquarters, currently in some fucking plaza! I have a special update to our previous story about the mutant attacks, the Black Hats have beaten them back from their place! An all out slaughter! Blood everywhere! Oh the children! But don't take my word for it, go there and smell the burning skin and taste the plasma!" Not noticing the rumble in the distance kotar continued, firmly in the zone. "I would like to remind the viewers that this station is able to operate because of generous sponsorships from local businesses, like Arcaine! Arcaine; come, dance, relax!" Finding his stomach gurgling from the leftover adrenaline, Rum, and excitement of his broadcast, he paused long enough to take a syringe of Scarecrow out of his pocket and inject it in his arm. "And this DJ is brought to you by Scarecrow. Scarecrow; it's kinda the shit." He flipped another switch to puncuate this and his voice was replaced by the sound of Louisiana banjos. Making sure to turn off the talk switch, he walked outside and saw what the rumbling was; Bill and Elena had finally made it. "Welcome back my-" Before he could finish, the roar of shotgun blasts washed over them. Bill "Scarecrow;it's kinda the shit" Bill turned off the engine, as well as the radio, of the mule as he parked by his trailer. "Scarecrow, it kinda makes your brain shit." mumbled Elena as she got out. "FALL-IN!" Boomed Bill, and out of every nook and crany of the caravan, the men and woman of his personal army came out: "Silent" Bruce , his great-sword on his back and Hammertime in hand; Jenn_Halmacker, her pistols in their holsters and her rifle in hand; Andre Devereaux, his pistol tucked into his belt, throwing his bowie and catching it every step; Franz and Wolfgang mearly stood from there post in the machine gun nest on top of Bill's Trailer, which also served as their sleeping quarters, and lastly Sestuus, with his wicked gloves on, as always, and his kilt swaying as he walked. "Ello lads," said Bill, walking up to his fighters, they returned the greating and Bill started talking with them about this and that, until Bill noticed Kotar exiting the Radio Trailer "Talk to you lot in a minute," Bill turned and headed toward Kotar. "Welcome back my-" Suddenly the boom of shotguns echoed from a few streets over, immediately followed by the crack of assault rifles. "What the hell?" "2 Winechester City-Killers, and from the sound of it, a pair of Ak-112's, and if my ear's are telling me true, am FN FAL." Bill said, he turned around to his crew and blew a sharp whistle, waved them over. "Alright, Bruce, Elena, Jenn, Andre, and Sestuus with me, Franz and Wolfgang, stay here, and Kotar, get yer boys together, we got a party to attend." Bill ran off toward the fighting, the rest of his crew, as well as Kotar and two of his guys, toward the fighting. A block from where the shooting was going down, Bill stopped and turned around "Jenn, i want you to go scout it out, and get back here with a Sit-rep." Jenn nodded and ran off toward one of the near by buildings. As Bill and the rest waited, Bill told Kotar about what had happened on his way in from out west. As he finished his tale, Jenn returned, skirting to a stop in front of Bill. "there are five Hwice death-squad in the street firing on two guys, one of which i THINK is Thomas White." "Who's Thomas White?" asked Kotar. "Thomas is a robber, I met him once, guy knows his shit, and knows the underground of this city better then anyone. I think we should help him" said Bill, "What if we turn him over to the Hwice?" asked Kotar. "The Hwice will kill him, but we will be in their good graces. I personally hate them, and would rather kill them Hwice pigs." said Bill. "So this is what i propose, Bruce, Sestuus, and Andre, along with Kotar and your men, I want you to hit from both sides, Bruce, Sestuus and Al from one way, Kotar, Andre, and Ember from the other, while Elena, Jenn, and I will go sneak up to Thomas and inform him of the situation. Kotar, i will signal you when to start the attack with a green flare, don't start sooner." Bill's plan proved rather effective, he and his girls snuck over to Thomas and informed him of the plan, and whne the flare flew, All hell broke on the Hwice boys. Bill downed one with a shot to the face, Bruce literally charged forward, and while he did get shot up pretty bad, he and Sestuus (who'd used Bruce as a shield) succeeded in slaughtering the two shotgunners. While that happened, the commander of the Hwice squad attempted to flee, and was knocked off his feet by a well placed harpoon to the knee, crippling him for questioning. The last man standing, with a grenade in hand, attempted to charge the rough barricade which Bill and the rest were behind, but was tooken down by two walls of led from either side, as Al and Ember opened up on him with FMJ's. Bill stood up and looked across the field, hopped the barricade, and ran over and knocked the Hwice commander out with a swift kick to the face. "SHUT UP you worthless piece of shit!" Snarled Bill, turning, he took stock of wounded. Bruce was peppered with buckshot, and looked like he could use a nap, Al was nursing a twisted ankle, and Elena and Jenn were hurriedly trying to patch up Thomas;s friend. Thomas walked up to Bill and offered his hand. "Thanks for the help, them Hwice don't take to kindly to their shit being snagged." said Thomas, a grin on his face as he spoke. "Come on, lets get you and your guy, as well as this shit," Bill kicked the injured Hwice officer "Back to our camp. "We'll be there in a few!" shouted Kotar, who was busily rumaging through the dead's pockets. (Back to Wavelength) Kotar "These are some nice boots." Al told the others, as he tossed his old ones away. Kotar glanced up from the body he was searching to look at him. ''They do fit pretty well. ''Kotar thought as he removed a written description of Thomas and tossed that. He looked over to Ember taking the chest part of another man's combat armor. "What size are those boots there?" Ember asked him. Checking, Kotar replied that they were 11s. "Toss 'em over man." He looked at Ember with his new get-up and had a idea. "You really look like these guys, bet we can have some fun with that." The three of them began taking everything off the corpses until they were down to their underwear. "You guys look nice, but you better take that shit off if you don't want Bill to shoot you as soon as you show up." After they switched clothing, they returned to the caravan to find the interrogation in progress. Not wanting to interrupt, They dumped the armor in Kotar's trailer and got Jack. The four then sent off for The Olde Jig, the Black Hat's casino. On the way however, they ran across what seemed like a very well armed group of hunters. "Hunting mutants?" Kotar joked to them. "Deathclaw" one of the hunters replied not even stopping to talk. The smile was instantly wiped off the tribal's face. He remembered his last (and thankfully only) run-in with one in West Texas. "You gonna just stare, or you coming along?" another of the hunters asked as they rounded the corner. Kotar looked to the others, and getting only shrugs, he ran to catch up with the hunters. the 11 of them searched the ruins for two hours, pausing occasionally as one of the hunters 'felt' something. Kotar was comteplating leaving, when it happened; The Deathclaw they had been hunting for found them. It leaped over his head and sliced one of the mercs in half. It turned and decapitated another before the humans broke and scattered for cover. Leaping over a pile of rubble, Kotar turned and drew his harpoon. The monster looked over and him and took several steps before jumping at him. Throwing the harpoon, it caught the Deathclaw in the chest, throwing off its landing and crashing into the rubble pile. Taking his rifle in his hands, Kotar walked over and emptied the magazine in the beast's head. Pulling out his harpoon, he found himself surronded by the mercs and his guards. "That was amazing!" Al told him, a little too loud. "You earned this." said one of the mercs, giving him a sizable bags of caps. "your share from the hunt." with that the mercs left. "The others aren't going to believe this." Jack said, clearly still pumped up on adrenaline. "Your right." Kotar said. He began sawing off its arms, and when it was done, they too left. (To the Olde Jig) Bill "Alright, I am gonna ask you one more time... WHERE ARE THE HUSSARS? I know you know, the Hwice trade with the Huns, and the HUNS know where the Hussars are, so where are they?" Bill asked, stepping on the wounded hwice officers shattered knee. "I... I DON'T KNOW!!! GODDAMNIT THAT HURTS!!" "Thats cuz its supposed to, now, stop giving me bullshit and tell me what i want to know, or i am turning you over to my lady friends over there." Bill got off the mans leg and leaned in real close, "Have you ever heard of Jenn Halmacker?" The officers eyes widened in horror, "Well, thats her right there, and if you don't" "They headed north, getting outta here before the keystone traps them. The huns are thinking of leaving, but Ed convinced them to stay, protect us in exchange for chems." said the officer in a rush. "Well, was that so hard? Jenn, he's all yours." Bill turned and walked away "Bruce, you and Sparky are coming with me, I think I know where to find the Hussars boss." A few hours later Bill was sitting in a bar, a sawed off shotgun against his head. "Now, why don't you tell us who the fuck you are, and how you found us?" said Cerek, seated across from Bill, legs on the table. "The names Bill, McLaine, and I found you after Interigating a Hwice officer, then used my amazing power of intuition to find you." said Bill, taking stalk of the situation, Bruce was knocked out, one of those maces the Hussars were so fond of made sure of that, and Elena was right next to him, a pistol to her red/blue hair. "Bill McLaine? I heard of you, you caused some big waves with the Hwice, as well as those bastards the Huns," said Cerek, who waved his hand, and the guns lowered. "What do you want?" "I want you and your warriors to head back into topeka and kill those keystone pigs." "Ride back into topeka? Why in the hell would i wanna do that? Keystone took over half the city, killed most of the huns. Plus, they are WAY better armed then my boys, and though we outnumber them, those big guys are hella strong." said Cerek, ticking off each point as he went. "Well, what if I told you that the Hats and the Priests, as well as Iron Legs, AND my Caravan, were gonna hit the Keystone, and hit them hard?" said Bill. Silence reigned, until Cerek leaned forward, his armor shifting around.. "You have my attention." he said, his eyes twinkling slightly as Bill unfolded the plan. Kotar "What do you mean you don't accept deathclaw arms as bets?" Kotar asked the blackjack dealer, the arms in question laying on the table, leaking blood onto the felt. "I'm sorry sir, but rul-" The dealer saw something behind the tribal that made him stop "Very well sir, we accept them." Turning around to see what changed the man's mind, Kotar found he was almost touching a bear of a man. The bear happened to be Jacob Hennessey, the boss of the casino and the Black Hats. "I trust you're enjoying your time here." Hennessey said. "Sure am, good drinks, fun games, and nice eye candy." Kotar replied gesturing vaugely with his hands. "Glad to hear it, let me know if you need anything." With that, Hennessey walked away from the table. Turning back to the card game, Kotar checked his cards and found a queen and a ace. Flipping them, he reclaimed his arms and a equivilent stack of chips. Wandering over to see what the others were up to, he found Al at the bar chatting up a waitress, Jack eating lunch a few stools away, and Ember at the Roulette wheel. "How's it going?" Kotar asked, as he leaned against the table. "Pretty great, nice change from the caravan and the crazy shit outside." Ember responded, not raking his eyes off the ball. Satisfied, Kotar walked back to the bar and ordered a sandwich. Eating slowly, he relaxed as the chems and booze wore off. Before he was half way through, Jack came over to him with his lunch. "Mind if i join ya?" he asked as he sat down next to the tribal. "not at all, plan on being here a while." (Remain at Olde Jig) Bill "Alright, here's what we're gonna do, Cerek, You and your band of madmen are gonna set up here, in the cover of these broken buildings to the north of the Keystone command structure. Padre, you and those sweet mortars, as well as a small contingent of Hat security, are gonna set up here, in the lodge by the lake, and when I contact you, you start shelling. Not much, just 3 rounds from each tube, and try and aim center mass on the Keystone outpost. That will hopefully draw the majority of the fighters they have to the outpost. Jekor, this is where you and most of the Black Hats toughest come in; you are gonna hit the releif force in route to the outpost, they only got one way to get there, and i am gonna supply you with mines and grenades, from MY own supply, so you can wipe most of them out before they reach the outpost. When word reaches the Keystone HQ about what is happening, they are more then likely gonna send more troops to reinforce the reinforcements. That, Padre, is when you and your mortars are gonna open up BIG TIME on the HQ, force them to panic, and come OUT of cover, which is when Cerek will attack, Cerek, i need you to WAIT UNTIL WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE IS OUT IN THE OPEN, AND THEN BLOW HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF. While the assault is under way, a select group of members of the Wavelength, including Kotar, several of his guys, my entire team, along with Hennessey and a trio of his men, are gonna sneak up the Keystones asses, attempt to clear the HQ, and open up on the main force from behind... Questions?" That was 5 hours ago, and the plan hadn't gone quite as well as Bill had hoped. The Keystone relief force was smaller then he had hoped, and had nearly been wiped out before they could call for help. The Saints mortars where silanced for a few crutial moments after beginning the attack on the HQ due to a group of ghouls attacking it. The attack was repulsed, and Cerek and his men were able to attack. The Hussars were able to kill a massive number of the Keystone troops before they could dive for cover and then open up in return. But, to Bill, the biggest cock-up was when he accidently set off the tripwire leading into the HQ comm station. The wire was rigged to a very nasty trap, a cluster of W.P. grenades, as well as locking him in the room. In the minute it took the rest of the team to open the door and give him aid he sustained massive burns to his face, as well as his arms and back. Elena and Kotar quickly went to work and cut out the W.P before it could do any more, and Kotar stuck him with something... different. Now Bill was providing cover fire to the rest of the guys so they could reach the Command operations room of the HQ. He was having a bitch of a time seeing, as much of his face was either burned terribly or swollen, and even what ever Kotar had given him was starting to wear off. "Fuck this shit," Bill growled quietly, as he took cover as the mutant stepped out from cover and opened up his minigun on him. Bill reached behind himself, and drew out a long, mace like device, pulled a cord on the bottom, counted to 3, and lobbed it over the barricade. "What the?" started the Mutant, until the home made bomb detonated, shredding the mutant with molten plasma and fire. \ "CLEAR!" shouted Franz "All secure, moving up!" said Wolfgang. After that last mutant the strike team didn;t run into much resistance, and finally they were in a position to give hell to the mutants outside. Bill grinned wickedly as he nodded to the others and pulled out his brush gun, took a bead on the only mutant shouting orders, and pulled the trigger. Two hours later, Bill was strapped down to an operating table, and being held down by both Bruce and Elena, as Daniel Vance went to work cleaning, sanatizing, and fixing what he could of Bills body, Bill's screams muffled by the gag in his mouth. "I am sorry Bill, but there isn't much I can do for your face, though i can offer you some... replacement parts for other areas of your body." "What... kind... of... parts?" Bill said faintly "Well, I can probably replace your right leg with a robotic one I traded alot of caps for a few years back, guy was from back east, said he got it in Junction, what ever that means." Bill raised his head slightly to look at the stump that had been his right leg. "How much?" asked Bill, a little more strength in his voice. "15,000 caps, as well as 5,000 in medical supplies." "What the FUCK Doc!" started Elena, until Bill snarled at her. "Babe, shut up! If I ever want to walk again, I am gonna need a new right leg, and i ain;t gonna be in no FUCKING CHAIR for the rest of my life, you want 15? FINE! You want 5 in medical shit, FINE!, BUT you put that muthafuckin' leg on me proto, or i am gonna have Bruce here rip you to shreds, got that?!!" "Fine, Caps now, then i will get to work." said Daniel. "Elena, go with Bruce and get the chest... NOW!" Kotar "Now that was some wild shit." jack said, breaking the silence. The four of them were standing in a circle around Kotar's trailer, smoking and drinking to relax after the hectic assault on the mutant's stroghold. Kotar was about to reply when stubbs came over, obviously upset. "What the hell guys, you attack the super mutants without telling me?!" he asked, waving his arms around in aggitation. "Someone had to DJ." Kotar told him, shrugging his shoulders. Stubbs tried to stutter out a response but just stomped off. "He oughta relax." Al said, taking another hit of med-x. "Yeah, oh well, we're heeding out in the morning. Or afternoon probably, head back east, relax in the Principality for a while." Kotar told them as they headed inside to prepare for their last night in town.